In Pakistan, 12 people were killed and 28 injured in a suicide attack near the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday. A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle, packed with 50 kg of explosives, at a checkpoint at Pishtakhara Chowk, the main entry point to Peshawar from the troubled Khyber tribal region. The powerful blast blew up a number of other vehicles lined up at the check post. It was the sixth attack in Peshawar within a week. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani have strongly condemned the attack. In operations in South Waziritsan, the Pakistani military claimed to have killed seven militants in fierce clashes during the past 24 hours. Four soldiers were also injured in the region where security forces are consolidating their positions and conducting search operations.